The Forgotten Memories
by multi-personas
Summary: Malon, such a simple farm girl. Never left the farm, never left Hyrule, never knew much about the outside lands. One day she thinks she sees one of her old bestfriends, one of her old horses, Epona. Boy was she right, and boy does she regret ever seeing that stupid horse.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

 _Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa_

Hooves beat heavily into the ground as a sole rider rode across the fields of Hyrule. Clad in a large deep brown duster, a bandanna wrapped around his mouth and nose, his eyes covered in black tinted goggles, his long blonde hair flowing freely in the air. He wore a very dirty tan shirt, cotton pants, and knee high brown boots. His trusty steed a deep rich brown with a white mane, covered in scratched silver horse armor. It lost its once beautiful shine to the number of battles and storms its been through.

This man and his steed raced to their destination; Kakariko Village, to stop and rest for the night before heading on again, to a river that supposedly housed the illusive and terrible McCready Gang. A gang that has been hassling the citizens of Hyrule for far too long. The sun was setting quite rapidly, the last moments of the day fleeing behind the distant mountains, and twilight appearing as if from thin air. Due to this man's very unfortunate late start he has been forced to follow the shortcuts that were known to be riddled with bandits. However, he was just as likely to take the route no matter what the time because he knew how to handle himself quite well. But he was still racing against time because most inns closed at sun down and he for one has had enough with sleeping outside for a night or two. His sword and shield hung off the back of his horse along with his other stuff; camping materials, food and weapons. Thought it looked like he was relaxed and defenseless, he was at the ready at all times. It was a requirement for his job. As the sun slipped more under the horizon, he took off his goggles and exposed his dull grey eyes to the twilight air. He pushed his horse harder to try and make it in time.

* * *

"Hmm," he hummed to himself as he picked up a piece of ceramic. Beautiful even as a broken piece instead of a whole. He tossed it to the side and picked himself up out of his crouch, his sword in his hand. He was expecting bandits but it seemed like they were long gone. _Same with the owners of this wagon,_ the man thought to himself. The wagon was currently on it's side, a wheel busted in half. The canvas walls were shredded and a few arrows littered the ground along with the iron-y smell of blood.

He walked around to the other side and saw the canvas draped over a rather large something. He used his sword to lift the canvas and what he saw made him put a grimace on his face. He quickly dropped the canvas again and shook his head.

 _Definitely McCready_ , he thought to himself. He gave a quick silentprayer to the once human mass and a quick addible curse to the McCready gang. After a quick inspection of the wagon papers he found that there were supposed to be two men and three women on this ride. The first man was found about 500 feet back, which put him on alert, and here was the second man, this put him more at ease.

 _Kill the men and take the women_ , he thought to himself, _no other reason to stay, huh?_

He looked up to the sky and lightly cursed himself. Inspecting the wreckage had put him behind schedule, way too much so. He whistled to his horse and he mounted as fast as he could. He took one last look at the wagon and decided that whoever did this was long gone and he didn't have anything to worry about.

* * *

"Pardon me, sir," the man spoke up to the guard guarding the front gate. He pulled down his bandanna as he spoke.

"What is it citizen?" the guard asked with a sharp and authoritative voice.

"Could you kindly point out the stables for me?" he asked politely.

"Certainly," he said, turning to the town. "If you head down the main street you'll come across 3rd street, take a right on 3rd and at the end of the road you'll come across the stables, but you'd better hurry, their about to close up for the night."

"Thank you sir," the man said, he took his horse be the reins, jumped off and walked with it.

As he walked he took in the rather small Kakariko Village, he had never been here before but he had heard plenty about it on his travels. There was apparently someone here who made the best chicken dumplings, they had close to one hundred people living in this very small space, and they had four festivals each year, one for each season, drawing in more people. But alas, he wasn't here for chicken dumplings, he was here to seek shelter for the night.

He followed the guards directions and took a right on 3rd street.

 _Clearly the animal part of town,_ he thought to himself. The street was closer to mud than dirt, but not quite there and there was a pungent odor of manure in the air. But nonetheless it was a very clean for what it was, they must have someone to come and clean up every once in a while.

It didn't take long to get to the end of the road and by now the sun was gone. He came upon a house next to a very large barn.

"Howdy, sir," he heard in a squeaky voice. The person who made the sounds were from a rather small boy who was sitting on a stool outside of the open barn door. He had a straw hat on and a very toothy grin, though he was in fact missing a couple of teeth.

"Hi, are you still receiving horses for the night?" the man asked, taking a breif look at the sign that hung above the open barn door.

"You're jus' in time, mistah," the boy said. He got up and took the lantern from the hook it was hanging on. "Follo' me, sir." and so the man followed the boy into the barn, with horse in tow.

They went all the way to the last stall in the barn which was one of the last three open. There were lanterns hanging by each stall door so the horse could get some light, but the ones that didn't have a horse in them weren't lit. The boy lit the lantern that the man was opening.

The stalls were graciously large, large enough so if a horse were laying down a worker could walk around it easily.

"Thank you, boy," the man said as he started to take all of his equipment off his horse.

"Sure, thing mistah," the boy said ever so cheerful. He watched as the man undressed his horse when he piped up again. "Why's he got metal stuff on?"

"Huh?" the man asked looking at the boy. He thought the boy had left, but apparently not. "Oh, well she is a fighter, as am I and we both need to be protected," he said, continuing his work.

"Whatcha fightin'?

"Bad people I suppose."

"Like a bounty hunter?" the boy asked. The man looked up and looked at the boy with a quizzical look.

"I suppose," he said, getting back to work.

"That's pretty cool, you know?"

"Heh, I suppose, dangerous work though, I'd much rather earn my living doing what you're doing tending to animals and what not."

"Why do you do it then?"

The man stopped again at this and thought about this question.

"Because someone has to," the man settled on.

"Well aint that the guards' job?" the boy asked, seeming never ending with his questions.

"The guard's job is to keep the citizens of the country they're protection safe," the man said, "A bounty hunter's job is to keep everybody safe."

"But aint that the same?"

"Eh, I suppose they'er the same in some aspects, different in others," the man said, smiling up at the boy, who just smiled back. "What's your name, boy?"

"Names' Rog'r, sir," the boy replied quite proudly.

"That's a nice name, I knew someone named Roger, he was a good guy," the man said, turning his face to Roger the boy. "Are you a good guy?"

"Yes sir, ah am a good guy," Roger stated very proudly, puffing out his chest a little. The man could only chuckle.

He spent the last moments of undressing his horse in silence as the boy just watched. He piled the armor on a cubbyhole built into the side of the wall along with most of his stuff, however he kept out his sword and shield and his clothes pack and slung them over his back.

"Well young man, thank you, here," he said taking out a red rupee, "For one night, keep the change."

"Thanks you very much mistah!" the boy exclaimed. He quickly bit one end of the rupee and was even more happy when it passed his quality check, making the man smile softly. The man started to leave but was stopped by the boy. "Wait! You gotta fill this out!"

The man looked back and saw the boy hold up a small chalkboard and small piece of chalk. The man took the board and saw that there were two spots to fill out. One labeled "HORSES NAME" the other "OWNERS NAME". There was quiet as the boy was busy admiring his twenty rupee, the only sound was animals and the _tik-tak_ of chalk striking the chalkboard. When the man was done he handed back the chalkboard. The boy looked over the information and nodded to himself. The man took out a yellow rupee and said, "Could you tell me where the inn is?"

The boy took the rupee excitedly, "Sure! If you walk back to the main street and take a right, follo' that till you get to 7th street and the inn is on that street."

"Thank you very much," the man said walking away.

"Don't worry Mr. Link! I'll take real good care of Epona for you!" the boy exclaimed after the man named Link, who disappeared around the corner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Do you remember what we're doing today, Malon?" the great mustached Ingo asked the less mustached but just as great woman.

"Of course, you're going to flirt with your girlfriend while I do all the work," Malon teased, passing another crate of goods to Ingo.

"Glad you understand," Ingo smiled as he put that crate next to the others on the ground.

"When are you going to ask her to marry you? It's not nice making a woman wait you know, the poor woman," Malon said as she jumped down from the back of the wagon. Ingo and her pick up the last crates on the ground and walked them over to a smaller wagon, pushed by man, not beast.

"When my life gets a little less busy," he chuckled and took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Malon. "Here are the directions, if you follow these you should be back here by sunset, then we'll book it back to the ranch and try to get to bed before midnight, deal?"

"Sounds good," Malon said taking the directions and giving them a quick once over. It wasn't like she hasn't done a milk run by herself before, but it was her first one alone in a little while so she was undoubtedly rusty. "Say hi to Molly for me," she called after Ingo, watching him walk down the street, pushing the wagon. He tossed a hand above his head as a sign that he heard her.

Malon just couldn't keep a smile off her face as she looked across the beautiful Hyrule fields. The deliveries had got better than expected, she was way ahead of schedule, she got almost 30 rupees in tips from all the nice people she delivered to, and she got one of Mrs. Yorla's famous ham sandwiches, which was a foot in length, made with the most delicious ham, the freshest vegetables, and the best, freshest, fluffiest bread. She had managed to make it through half of it before getting too full. It and a bottle of milk sat next to her as she laid in the grass, letting the tall blades brush against her soft skin.

She was currently laying down next to a gentle river, the horse that was pulling the wagon was snacking nearby and the wagon itself was a few yards away, it's canvas top swaying slightly in the light breeze that was rolling throughout the small little area she found herself in. She took a deep breath of fresh air, the kind that you can only get in the great outdoors. Malon was very fond of the more unpopulated areas of the world, like the forests, the great plains, and even the deserts. City life was just too smelly for her liking. Not that she minded the city, at times she loved the city more than the outdoors-y part of the world. The vast diversity of people, the great smells of food, the people inside, it was all very fascinating to Malon, a girl who never had a chance to leave the ranch she was born on. There were times that she just ached for adventure, for a chance to see the outside world and the weekly trip to Kakariko Village just didn't do it for her, so she treasured the times that she would do the milk run around Hyrule. She just couldn't not enjoy her day.

She was enjoying herself so much that she didn't hear a man sneak up behind her till he stepped on a twig. She bolted up and turned around quickly.

"Whoa there miss," a man said. He wore some pretty petty excuses for clothing. Almost rags hanging off his body, but he his face-oh boy. A grade A hunk. And it was clear the Malon thought this as her cheeks light up faster than an octorok shooting a nut. Short dark hair, bright blue eyes, and a jaw that looked like it was chiseled out of stone with just a hint of stubble. He had his hands up in a surrendering fashion. "I didn't mean to startle you," he said in a deep, slightly country, accent.

"uh-uh-um, no it's ok uh," Malon stumbled over her words, she quickly shook her head trying to put herself right.

"I was wondering, did you know the way back to the castle? I've seemed to have gotten myself lost," he said, offering up a half smile that made Malon's heart almost melt.

"Um, sure, it's uh," she stumbled, trying to tear herself away from his pretty face. When she managed to do so she pointed down the dirt path to his left. "You take that path, and when you reach a fork in the road take a right and follow that all the way down."

"Many thanks there ma'am," he said, giving her another half smile. Malon found herself smiling like a goon.

Malon couldn't bring herself to do much other than smile in return and watch as he started for the path that she told him to go. She turned back and had a quick laugh with herself and did a quick spin, letting her dress spin around like the girls did at those fancy balls, though you wouldn't catch her dead at one of those. She was just having a very spectacular day.

 _Splish-splash_

"Huh?" she muttered, she quickly looked around and saw a horse coming out of the water. It wasn't Mabel, the horse she brought with her, it was a different horse. A very deep brown coat of fur, pearl white mane and tail, and a white star on her head. Malon found herself speaking before her brain could catch up with her. "Epona?" but it couldn't be.

The mare in question trotted up to Malon, who put out her hand on instinct. Epona nuzzled Malon's hand, and Malon felt the smile grow on her face. "It can't be you," yet it was, Malon was sure of it. She moved from her head to her neck and pet her down her side, she noticed that she had a saddle on, but she didn't think anything of it. "Where did you come from," she looked across the river, but she quickly wish she hadn't.

She almost didn't see him; she almost didn't see the bow he held and she almost didn't see him draw back the bow with an arrow pointing right at her.

"Uh, um," she was at a loss for words, quite unsure of what to say. Her heart started racing and she felt her throat dry up and she had to force a swallow as fear crept up into her chest. She could feel every beat her heart was making. She took a slow step back and another, her eyes never leaving the person who had the bow aimed at her.

"L-look, I didn't know she was yours, I didn't mean any harm," Malon pleaded, small tears started to blur her vision a little, but she definitely kept the bow in her clear view. She took another step as she talked, and another, and another. She talked and talked for her life, but she didn't know what she was saying.

 _Thump_

"Ah!" Malon screamed as she backed into something, she spun quickly but her feet got tangled together and down she fell, hard on her butt.

"Heheheh, now now, girly," the man she backed into said. Malon immediately recognized him as the handsome man from not five minutes ago, the next thing that she noticed was the rather large knife in his hand. He had a very crooked smile on his face as he looked down upon the fallen and helpless maiden.

However this maiden wasn't as helpless as he thought. "Ooh, you are a beautiful one, you know that, I can't wait to make you- _Thunk!_ ," it all happened quicker than Malon's eyes could properly catch. The man was advancing and Malon backed away as fast as he was gaining on her, then seemingly an arrow just appeared in his chest, but Malon knew better. She quickly snapped her head to the other side of the river to see the person who was pointing a bow at her running, the bowman jumped over the brush he was hiding behind and didn't stop when he landed on the loose sand and rocks. He ran along the river as fast as he could, his torn cloak flapping around his limbs.

He took another arrow and notched it, he used a fallen log as a quick stepping stone that he jumped with one leg on and immediately jumped off again, jumping over the small river. While in midair he pulled back the arrow and aimed, not at Malon, but Malon followed his line of sight and another man running with a cross bow was running out from behind the wagon, but the moment he was in full view an arrow found it's home burrowed deep in his chest, much like the first man had.

She quickly snapped her head towards the bowman but he was already on the ground and he had thrown down his bow and drew a sword, which collided with the sword of yet another man who came out behind the wagon, locking them together. The two shoved away from each other and both took a fighting position. Both of these men were clearly skilled and it showed as they tried to strike each other, only to have their strikes blocked by the others sword. Suddenly they both jumped forwards and locked blades again, but the cloaked man struck out an arm, grabbing hold of the other guy's shirt and in one quick motion, threw him down to the ground and in a quick strike plunged his blade into his chest, giving this fight a quick end.

Malon didn't know how to react, she was stunned beyond all belief and all she could do is lay in the grass. The cloaked man snapped his head towards her. His face was covered in a bandanna, which he pulled down to his neck. He had long blonde hair, and a couple scars on his face, nothing major, the worse was a set of scars that ran over the right side of his lips and disappeared to his chin; his short beard interrupted by the scars.

"Are you ok," he asked, though Malon couldn't say anything. He took a step forwards which kicked Malon back to her senses. She quickly jumped up and started to put some distance between them, though keeping him in her sights. "Hey, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you!"

"W-what did you do to these people?!" Malon yelled at him.

"What they had coming to them," he said, sheathing his sword, which hung on his back. He took off his cloak which revealed a very dirty shirt but under that; shiny chain mail.

"What do you mean?" Malon asked as he grabbed the collar of the one he stabbed and started dragging him.

"You ever hear of the McCready Gang?" he asked, dropping him off next to the first one he shot, the one that almost got Malon. He made his way to the crossbow shooter.

"McCready?" she muttered to herself, sudden recognition, "You're a bounty hunter!"

"I suppose that's one thing to call me," he said, dragging over the body next to the others, he took off one glove and offered his hand to Malon, "Another is Link," he said with a smile.

"Pleasure, Link, I think," she said shaking his hand, "Malon."

"Malon huh? Nice name," he said. He pointed to her wagon, "You deliver for Lon Lon?"

"Partial owner next to my father and uncle," Malon said, she quickly walked to the back of the wagon. She didn't know what to say to Link the Bounty Hunter, but she was a little at ease. He didn't look like he was going to hurt her, and she knew that bounty hunters didn't attack people they didn't have bounties on, so she could relax, but she couldn't.

" _Whistle-_ Epona!," he called.

 _I was right._ She thought. The gang members didn't take anything that Malon could see so she came out from behind the wagon to see Link shifting around in his bags.

"That's a beautiful horse you have," she said, trying not to stumble her words. "Where did you get her?" she had to know if it was indeed her horse.

He looked at Epona, who tossed her mane and let out a soft whinny. "I'm not sure, I've had her ever since I could remember," he said, pulling something out of the saddlebag. It looked like a wooden box with a big glass circle on the front, he pulled out a small wooden square covered in what looked like thin paper-y canvas. He placed the paper canvas square in a slot on the bottom of the box and slammed it into place then he racked a small lever on the side. _Raka-Raka-Raka._

He moved over the dead bodies and pointed the box at them. _Shhhhh-chaking_

"What is that?" Malon asked as he pulled the paper canvas out and inspected it.

"A pictobox," he said, he offered it to Malon, who took it. It showed the three men on the ground, though a little hazy.

"Wow," Malon said, she had heard of pictoboxes, but they were usually very large and very expensive.

"It's a lot easier to take pictures than to drag the bodies back to the castle," he said, taking the picture back. He put the picture in a pocket on his saddle along with with pictobox. He picked up his cloak and laid it across the three dead men, covering them slightly.

"Aren't you going to bury them?" Malon asked when Link walked back to Epona, picking up his bow on his way.

"Nope, they don't exactly deserve to be buried," Link said nonchalantly.

"Just what did they do to deserve to not be buried?" Malon asked, crossing her arms.

"They are rapists of women and murders; man and child, no one safe," Link said taking off his sword and quiver, securing everything on Epona.

Malon was quiet, any and all sympathy towards these men was replaced with the urge to throw up, she swallowed and willed the feeling to go away, but it just wouldn't. She placed her hands over her face and quickly shook her head. _"_ _I've gotta get out of here,"_ she thought to herself. She retrieved Mabel and hooked her up in record time.

"Well, Mr. Link, it was a pleasure meeting you," she said as she climbed onto the wagon, "but I've got to get out of here."

"Where are you headed," Link said, mounting Epona. Malon hesitated telling him. "The McCready Gang is lead by two brothers, Joba, the younger brother, is laying in the dirt there," he pointed to the hardly covered bodies, "Niblis might be around, I just was to make sure you get to where your going safe."

"Kakariko Village, I'm going to Kakariko Village," Malon said, taking the reigns in hand.

"I can escort you as far as Hyrule Castle," Link said, he shifted in his saddle, "If you want that is."

Malon looked towards the direction of the castle and chewed on her lip for a second.

"Sure," she said looking to Link. "I think I'd like that."

"Then let's ride," Link said with a charming smile.

Malon snapped the reigns and she took off. Link offered one last glance behind him at the bodies that laid in the dirt before taking off towards Malon.

Malon and Link were riding side-by-side, both silent for the last mile or so. Malon kept sneaking quick glances at Link, who didn't seem to be paying attention to anything but their surroundings.

"So!" Link exclaimed suddenly, shocking Malon enough to snap her head forwards. "Malon, how long have you been working at Lon Lon?"

Malon looked at Link again but this time her face growing more red by the moment. _He had to have seen me looking at him._

"Uh, well, ever since I could work, my father and uncle own the farm so it just kinda happened," Malon said with a shrug.

"Don't you ever think about working elsewhere?"

"No, not really," Malon said truthfully, though she has worked there for her entire life it never got boring and she always enjoyed herself whenever she was playing with the other animals on the small ranch. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Link asked, scanning the horizon.

"How long have you been a bounty hunter?" Malon asked, trying to catch Link's eye.

"As long as I remember," Link said with a smile, finally looking Malon in the eye, but his smile and his eyes didn't match up. "Though I don't call it bounty hunting."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, a bounty hunter has no moral, no drive other than to get paid. I do it for the satisfaction of knowing I saved a couple more lives. And it's fun saving a damsel in distress every once in a while," Link said with a wink towards Malon who laughed at that.

"What about working elsewhere?"

"Oh in a heartbeat," Link said immediately, which surprised Malon.

"Really?" Malon asked tilting her head at Link.

"Nobody likes to kill, no matter what happened to need death," Link said, his tone growing more and more serious. "But! I won't stop till there is no more evil in the world."

"So you plan on working till you die?" Malon asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yup," Link laughed.

The two rode out the last remaining miles in good company of each other, passing back and forth funny jokes and stories, even learning a bit more about each other, before they both came across the bridge to Hyrule Castle Town. They both bid each other ado and they both separated. Malon was uneasy at first, thinking about the dead bodies, but the ride with Link had put her at ease and it the events were pushed from her mind altogether for the remained of the day until she laid down to sleep when she remembered in too many details in her dreams.


End file.
